Disability Insurance Center

How To Save Money On Disability Insurance By Shopping For Quotes

Buying disability insurance can be confusing. There are several options that will impact your level of coverage and the cost of your policy. As you try to find the right plan, comparing disability quotes is the best way to ensure you are getting the best coverage for your money. See how to compare disability quotes, and become a smart disability insurance shopper!

TIP:Take the time to get 3 or more disability quotes. The more you shop, the better the chances are that you will find a good policy within your budget.

How to Compare Your Disability Insurance Quotes

When you are ready to look through your disability insurance quotes, you need to know what features of a policy are important. Review your disability insurance quotes for the following:

Elimination Period-This is the period of time after you become disabled that you will have to wait before your disability policy will begin paying benefits. Elimination periods can be 30, 60, or 90 days. The shorter your policy's elimination period, the higher your disability insurance premium. You can save money by choosing a higher elimination period, but understand you will not have any payments during that period of time. When comparing disability quotes, find an elimination period that you can manage.

Definition of Disability- Make sure that you understand with each disability quote how the policy defines disability. This definition will be the trigger to you getting your disability payments. A policy that considers you disabled if you can't perform your current job, but can perform other jobs, will be more expensive than a policy that doesn't consider you disabled unless you can't work at all. The easier it is to qualify as disabled, the more expensive your disability insurance quote will be.

Benefit Period-This is the period of time that you will be paid your disability income. Compare each benefit period on your disability quotes. The longer your disability benefit period, the higher your policy's premium.

Before you buy disability insurance, you need to understand your policy options and how your decision affects the cost of your plan. By getting a variety of disability insurance quotes, you can see how changes in policy options affect your premium payments, and you can make a decision about what level of coverage you need while working within your budget.

Comparing Extra Coverage in Disability Quotes

There are several extra coverage riders that can be added to your disability quote which give you more coverage while disabled. Ask if these important riders are contained in your disability quote:

COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments) - This rider will give you the normal cost of living increase year to year to keep up with inflation.

Automatic Increase in Benefits -This is a rider that when added to your policy will increase your monthly benefits for a specified period of time (i.e., 5 yrs). The best disability insurance quotes will provide this increase despite any changes in your health, income or occupation. This is designed to replace normally what would have been an annual increase in salary.

Guaranteed Insurability- Adding this rider to your policy will allow you to periodically have the option of increasing the amount of disability payment you would receive (say to $200 more a month or $500 more a month) regardless of your health. Some of the best disability insurance quotes will allow you to choose this option at life changing eventsÃÂ¢Ã¢âÂ¬Ã¢â¬ÂŁmarriage, birth of a child, purchase of a home, etc. Without this rider, you would have to show that your income has gone up to increase your benefit as well as prove insurability.

TIP:Most disability insurance policies give you a 30 day free look period at which time you should read the entire policy and look for coverage gaps or find ways you can save money by adjusting your policy. When you compare disability insurance quotes, take note of the free look period.

How to Buy Disability Insurance

Buying disability insurance may be one of the most important steps you will make to secure your financial future. Because of this, make sure you have a complete understanding of your policy's coverage and any exclusions contained in the policy. Do not choose a policy just because it has a lower monthly premium: a lower monthly premium could give you a lower disability income check that might not cover your needs. Understanding how your disability insurance policy will take care of you if you actually become disabled is IMPORTANT! You can look for ways to reduce the cost of disability insurance without sacrificing coverage. When you compare disability quotes, you need to find the balance between sufficient coverage and reasonable price.